The best key spawns in Escape From Tarkov will vary depending on the specific key that you are looking for, as well as your playstyle.
Some keys are more difficult to find than others, and the spawn locations can be random or hidden. If you are having trouble finding a specific key, you can also use the flea market to buy or barter for them.
As long as you are finding useful keys, you can trade your key for a specific key that you need.
In short, the best way to get quest keys in Escape from Tarkov is essentially just grinding as many loot spawns with keys as possible. In this guide, we will show you how to do this as efficiently as possible so you can get all the quest keys you need.
You can even use this strategy to make money in the game if you sell the keys at the right time.
What Are Quest Keys?
Quest keys are keys that are needed to unlock an area or room for a specific quest. These keys are mandatory, and there aren’t any skips, tactics, or parkour shortcuts to get inside without unlocking the locked door with a quest key.
Here are a few samples of some important quest keys:
- Dorm Rooms 114
- Dorm Room 303
- Dorm Room 206
- Dorm Room 203
- RB-ST
- Oli Logistics Key
- Cottage back entrance key
- Radio Station key
- Emercom Medical Unit
- West Wing 306 Key
- West Wing 219 or 220 Key
- East Wing 306 or 308 Key
- Key Card with a blue marking
- West Wing 112
- West Wing 216
- East Wing 328
There are a lot more keys, but you get the idea. Some of these keys are more important than others, even if they are all needed to complete a specific quest.
This is because some of the quests introduce you to a new chain of quests after completing them. The OLI Logistics Key and the Cottage Back Door Key are a few examples of this, as both of them unlock a big chain of quests upon completion.
Where Do You Get Quest Keys?
Quest keys are found in loot spawns that can spawn any kind of key. These can be found:
- On the bodies of deceased players or NPCs
- In containers such as jackets, backpacks, and filing cabinets
- Given as a reward for completing quests
- Purchased from traders
- Bartered or purchased in the flea market
In addition, some keys may only be available for purchase from certain traders and their availability may vary depending on your reputation with that trader.
There are so many keys available in the game that it can be hard to look for a specific key if you’re not sure where to look.
Best Way to Get Quest Keys
The best way to get quest keys is to loot as many jackets as you can. Filing cabinets don’t really give you that many keys because the loot inside filing cabinets tends to feature more tech and utility items.
If you are looking to loot as many jackets as possible, look at maps like Shoreline or Customs. Interchange, Lighthouse, Streets of Tarkov, Woods, and Factory have some jackets too, but only go there if you have other quests to do.
For strictly farming keys, the Dorms in Customs and the Village and Health Resort in Shoreline will be your best bet.
Here is the tricky part.
Each of those areas mentioned in Customs and Shoreline are extremely contested areas. Those are the hottest spots on the map because of high-value loot and quests.
Out of the three (Village, Health Resort, and Dorms), the Village would be the least contested one. However, the problem with the Village is that you have to go through each house to loot the jackets and the noises are quite loud.
Once an enemy hears you, you can easily get stuck because they can hold the exits and force you to camp inside.
Not only that but also Sanitar spawns around the area, so players tend to consistently check the area.
I would say the best way to farm keys would be Customs Dorms > Shoreline Village > Shoreline Resort.
Customs Dorms Run
For the Customs run, you should get the Dorm Room 220 (3-story dorm) key, which should be cheap after the first two weeks of the wipe. It’s also needed for a quest, so it’s a useful item to pick up.
Go through all the rooms and look for the wardrobes. These wardrobes have two jackets each. In the room in front of 220, there are two jackets on the floor that can be searched. These are easily missed.
Overall, there are about 26+ lootable jackets in the 3-story and 2-story dorms.
The problem is getting out and taking a significant amount of time looting all the jackets in the hottest spot in Customs.
Reshala can spawn in dorms, and there are more than ten quests that need to be done in the same area, including a quest to eliminate PMCs in the dormitories.
Scav Cases
As a supplementary method, you can use your Scav Case in your hideout to let Scavs farm items for you regularly. You can either use the Intelligence Folder or the 95k Roubles, as they give the most keys.
The keys you get are completely random. You might even find a Red Keycard if you are lucky. You don’t have to use the Intelligence Folder every time because it can be a little expensive.
The 95k Roubles can also get you the rarest keys in the game, but it will take some time.
A lot of players tend to avoid Scav Cases because some of them experience a losing streak where they lose money every time, but in the end, it should be a little profitable once your luck turns around.
What to Do Next
Since getting quest keys in Escape from Tarkov be dangerous if you are focusing on hot spot runs, you could also look at farming Scavs for keys.
They aren’t the best source of keys, but they can also spawn a lot of valuable items like Graphics Cards and LedX. You can look for Scavs in Customs or Scavs in Shoreline and mix it in with the hot spot runs.
Farming Scavs can give you a lot of experience points as well and you can even combine your farming runs with a quest if you have one.
